Americans Drive Less, But Will Cheaper Gas Reverse Trend?

(MoneyWatch)  The Federal Highway Administration reports that in the last 12 months, miles driven in the United States fell by 100 billion miles, a record 12-month decline.

That was for the 12 months ending in October. In October, gas prices fell below $3 and kept falling, so next month's "miles-driven" report will be one to watch, to see whether there's any uptick in driving, as a result of cheaper gas.

According to AAA, regular unleaded fell to a national average of $1.66 on Dec. 15, down from $2.13 a month earlier.

The automakers have also pulled out all the stops on year-end discounts. I know from experience that anyone who watched NFL football over this past weekend saw an awful lot of commercials for the GM Red Tag Event, with discounts like $4,395 off the new Cadillac CTS, or the Toyota "Toyotathon of Toyotathons," offering zero-percent financing.

Maybe another month of cheaper gas, the steady drumbeat of advertising, and another month of big discounts will have a cumulative effect.

However, the clearance sale at GM started in early November and dismally failed to turn around November sales. GM sales for November were down 41.3 percent from the year-ago month, according to AutoData Corp. Nor did zero-percent offers, which began in October, help Toyota much. Toyota's U.S. sales were down 33.9 percent in November.

It looks like we'll all be (staying) home for Christmas.